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Fun for existing Q fans, but not as good as the show
I enjoyed this book overall! I think it’s a fun read if you’ve already seen the show and are interested in the deeper lore behind the episodes. I’m not sure how well it would hold up on its own if you’re coming into it cold, though.
It certainly gives you a lot to think about, and it gave me a reason to revisit the episodes and try watching with Japanese subtitles, which was fun! The book was actually a great way to sort of pre-learn a lot of vocab before watching the episodes, which made it a lot smoother to watch them fully in Japanese.
As a language learner, it was also pretty accessible, with most of the text in the images and such getting reprinted within the body text so it was easy to look things up.
It was the right balance of incentive/reward to struggle, at least where my investment in Q is at and where my general Japanese ability level is at. It was fun to feel like I was uncovering secrets I otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
I had a little trouble rating it because I feel like it was great as a learner (when combined with the actual episodes, which are free to watch on youtube), but most of the strength of the horror comes from the show, not the book, so the book was mostly supplemental, and I liked some of the lore it added better than others.